


A Will to Live

by The_Queen_Of_Angst



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Depression, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, One Shot, Sad Will Byers, Self-Harm, Suicide, hes a smol bean ok, joyce needs some milk honestly, mike helps will cope, vent - Freeform, we need to protect will, will byers self harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 11:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13145757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Queen_Of_Angst/pseuds/The_Queen_Of_Angst
Summary: Will Byers is stuck. He's stuck reliving the same nightmares, the same pain, the same memories over and over again. He doesn't know what to do, until one day he finds himself at his best friend, Mike Wheeler's, window.





	A Will to Live

**Author's Note:**

> some grammar/ past vs present tenses may be off because I wrote this when I was half awake at like 5am... but hey enjoy anyways

mike couldn’t sleep.

he twisted and turned but he just couldn’t shut his eyes. he glanced over at the clock for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. 3 am. what sort of cruel torture was this?

mikes senses were suddenly alert as he heard a knocking on his window. mike sat up quickly in his bed, terrified. oh shit, what if it was a murderer, or worse, a monster? 

his eyes widened as he grabbed a knife from under his bed. he always kept one there, just to be safe.

he slowly kept to the window, pulling back the curtains. mike immediately set the knife down when he saw will, who had climbed up to mikes window on the top floor. mike quickly opened the window to let him in. will fell onto the floor of mikes room.

“dude what the hell?” mike hissed as he closed the window behind will.

will looked at him, frightened “i-im sorry, i didn’t..” he trailed off. mike frowned as he realized something was off. this wasn’t like will, sneaking off in the middle of the night. 

“just... lets go to my basement. you can stay there, if you want” mike kept his voice low, praying he wouldn’t wake up nancy or his parents. 

will nodded as they made their way downstairs, and walked to the basement door.

“thanks” will whispers as he slowly and quietly descends down mikes basement stairs.

mike slowly closes the door silently and follows will. mike glances at will “mind telling me why you’re here?”

wills eyes meet his and he quickly looks down “i-im sorry. this was stupid. i’ll go.” he starts to make his way back up the stairs

mike frowned, concerned. he knew very well that will was going through a lot, which worries him. he held his arm out between will and the stairs. “no, will, im sorry. you get you can talk to me? i don’t care, i won’t judge you. just- just please talk to me! don’t worry about me thinking your a freak, we’re freaks together! remember?”

“freaks together” will echoed, tugging at his oversized sweatshirt. his eyes flickered to the desk by the couch. his eyes immediately fell back to will. you could barely notice he even did anything. this was just a small thing, why was mike over analyzing it? mike followed wills previous gaze over to the desk. 

he was a bit confused when he first saw it, but then became extremely worried. upon the desk was nancy’s friends razor, after having left it there from a previous 2 night sleepover. mike looked back to will, looking nervously at him “mike? are you-“

“will, what’s wrong? please, i know something’s off. what happened? why did you come here? it’s 3 in the morning! 3 in the morning will!”

“i- i just-“ will diverted his eyes to the side at muttered quietly. “i needed to get away.”

mikes eyes widened “away from what? are the monsters back? should i call hopp-“

“no!” will cut mike off “no, it’s not a demogorgan or monster. it’s... it’s my mom.”

“your mom? but-“

“ever since bob died and i got back to normal, well, however normal i can be-“ he laughed bitterly at this, which concerned mike”-she’s been... strange. she’s been drinking, a lot, mike- i don’t know what to do, i just-“ wills voice cracked, betraying him and showing his vulnerability. mikes mouth was open, aghast by this news. ms byres? drinking? 

“i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have bothered you about it. forget i said anything.” he said quietly and made a beeline for the stairs. mike whipped around and grabbed will by his wrist. 

will flinched a little and wrenched his arm from his grip. “what mike?! it’s obvious you’re freaked out, considering your expression and lack of response! so just fucking FORGET about it!” will fumed. mike was shocked, he had never heard his innocent friend curse before. he looked into wills desperate eyes, noticing the sadness and how broken they were. those eyes that held the horrors of the upside down, of the pain, of the stress. mike knew will had struggled severely with PTSD (well everyone did, considering what the kid had gone through), but he was starting to worry is there was more to it.

“will... i don’t know what to say. i’m so sorry. i want to help. do you need to talk, about how you’re feeling? i heard that can help.”

“i don’t want to worry you with what’s going on-“

“you won’t!” mike cut him off “i want to know what’s happening! i need to know!”

will took in a deep breath “i just... i’ve been feeling horrible lately. like, no one cares. my mom used to ask questions. she used to give me hugs. she used to care. now, she just gets wasted every night and-“ he stops himself “and she- and she gets drunk.”

mike raised an eyebrow. “is that all?”

“y-yes.”

mike looked him in the eye, making will look around the room nervously “will. friends don’t lie.”

and then will snapped. his eyes became glassy and huge tears rolled down his face and fell to the floor. mike ran to him and hugged him tightly, will hugging back and sobbing into his shoulder. all the tension, all the stress, all the emptiness let out in mikes basement at 3:36 in the morning. 

“s-she gets bad, mike. really bad.” he sobbed and hiccuped into mikes shoulder. “she can throw things, hit things... people...” 

mike gasped a little, holding will tighter. could ms byres be hurting will?

“i’ve done things mike, things i regret. but- but i can’t stop.”

“what kind of things?” mike pulled away, afraid of what the answer would be.

will looked down, shutting his eyes tight, more tears falling. he hugged himself tightly, scared to tell his friend. 

he’s going to run. he’s going to call him a freak. that’s what he is, isn’t it? a freak. a monster. who would-

“will,” mike interrupted wills thoughts “please. i’m here for you”

will hesitantly nodded, eyes wide, as his hands traveled down to his hoodie sleeves. he rolled them up slowly and tentatively. mikes eyes widened as his suspicions were confirmed. 

wills arms were a battlefield of cuts, bruises, burns. you could tell most were self inflicted, the sets of deep cuts running down his arm every which way. some bandages were on as well, with some dried and caked blood showing through. the burns weren’t severe, but they were still there nonetheless. some bruises looked self inflicted too, but some also looked like they were made by someone else. mike was extremely worried they came from ms byres.

“w-will... i-“ mike managed to stutter out.

will quickly pulled his sleeves down, balling them up in his fists. he went over and sat on the couch, the opposite end from the razor on the table. mike went to go sit with him. 

“i’m sorry.” will whispered.

mike looked at him in shock. will was doing this to himself, and he was apologizing?

“what? why? you didn’t do anything wrong!” mike said desperately. “i’m the one who’s sorry! i’m sorry you feel the need to do this to yourself! i’m sorry that the upside down did this to you!” will flinched at mike mentioning the upside down, “i’m sorry that i didn’t notice! i should’ve been there! i’m so sorry, will...”

“no, it’s not your fault.” will said quietly. “i just felt so empty. i needed to feel something. so i cut. and when i wasn’t feeling empty, i was either filled with anxiety. so i burned. and then i felt like i was worthless, like i didn’t matter. so i bruised. sometimes... i wish as if no one had rescued me. like it would’ve been better if i had just stayed and died in the upside down.” mike gasped at this. “i just want to disappear. i want... i want to just die. i can’t- i don’t matter.”

mike was horrified.

“will, no! you matter! to me, to dustin, to lucas, to max, to el, to hopper, to jonathan, to your mom, even if she doesn’t show it all the time. you will get through this! talk to me whenever you feel like hurting yourself. radio me on channel 7. i will always pick up. talk to me when you feel worthless, or like you don’t matter, or if you want to die. just know you can always talk to me, and there are people who care about you. you will be found.”

will looked at mike with wide and glassy eyes. he threw himself at mike, hugging him like no tomorrow. for the second time that night, he sobbed into mikes shoulder. all the pain that he had been carrying around, was somehow released at this moment. all he cared about was mike embracing him, enveloping him, comforting him. he remembered back to kindergarten, when he was sitting among on the swings. then a kid with short and curly black hair came over, sat down on the swig beside him, and asked to be his friend. will remembered feeling so happy, as if everything was perfect. they talked until the end of recess, about what colors they liked, what their rooms looked like. their friendship just went uphill from that point. 

he remembered another time, when a group of older boys were surrounding will. calling him a fag, a freak. will remembered feeling so hopeless, like everything was crashing down. and then mike came. he threw rocks at the boys, yelling at them to stop. will could only watch with wide eyes as mike warded off the bullies.

then there was when they were playing dungeons and dragons, the night his life changed. he remembered mike throwing down a figure, shouting about the demogorgan. he remembered everyone screaming and panicking. will shot fire at the monster and won the game. everyone was cheering and screaming even more than before. he remembered mike looking at him with great joy in his eyes. then he remembered the bike ride home. the figure, the gun, the shed, and then the darkness. he remembered the cold. the monsters. the hopelessness. then he remembered being rescued, coming home. waking up and seeing will there, amongst his other friends. 

he remembered everything. the good times, the bad times. he sobbed harder. big glossy tears falling onto mikes shoulder. 

he cried for what seemed forever, mike just holding him, unsure what to do. eventually, wills crying and breathing slowed. soon enough, will was asleep in mikes arms. mike just held his friend, knowing that just being there was enough. he fell asleep as well, a faint smile upon his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> ayee so yeah that was uh,,, an interesting night?? Who caught the slight dear evan hansen reference?  
> This is my first fic on this site, so please be nice!!  
> anYWAY... please leave kudos& a comment!! bc im a needy hoe who craves validation;)  
> (imma look back at this fic in a year and cringe so hard why am i like this)


End file.
